The Lion and the Serpent
by Marie Grantaire
Summary: Harry and Ginny's daughter Lily is a popular fifth year at Hogwarts who always gets top grades. But what will happen when she ends up in Remedial Potions with Scorpius Malfoy, someone she loathes?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I love reviews! Who doesn't, but still. Also, all information that I couldn't find in the book about the Weasleys/Potters obtained here: ****.org/wiki/Weasley_family#Other_children**

**Pairing: Lily Potter/Scorpius Malfoy**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot. All the rest belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

Lily Potter yawned and stretched, opening the curtains of her bed. It was a little early, but today was the first day of her fifth year at Hogwarts, and she wanted to be ready. Molly Weasley, Percy and Audrey's oldest daughter, was already awake, polishing her prefect badge and staring at it critically through her glasses.

"Morning, Moll," Lily yawned, searching through her already messy desk for her brush and running it through her long red hair.

"Good morning, Lily," Molly replied. Lily looked at her class schedule and groaned.

"Oooh, why do we have to have double potions with the Slytherins? First period too!"

"You know, Lily, we're supposed to practice inter-house friendship. As fifth years, we really should set an example for the younger girls," Molly said pompously.

"You're the prefect, it's your job," Lily said, grinning and digging through her trunk for clean socks. Molly sniffed and pinned her badge to her robes.

"Is this straight?"

"Yes," Lily replied, still bent over her trunk.

"Lily, you didn't even look!"

"Well, I'd look if I could find my socks…oh, there they are!" Lily straightened up and glanced at the badge.

"Yeah, it's straight."

"Well hurry up, you'll be late," Molly said, now straightening her tie. Lily changed quickly, and took one last look in the mirror before slinging her bag over her shoulder. The pair walked down the staircase into the Gryffindor common room, where their cousin Hugo was waiting for them, along with Becker Longbottom, the Herbology professor's son.

"Hey, Hugo! Hi Becker!" Lily said, "Ready for class?"

"Double Potions? Not on your life," Hugo said, scowling. Molly frowned,

"I thought I already told you, Lily, we should be practicing-"

"Inter-house friendship, yeah, yeah," Lily cut her off, "I'll be friends with every house but Slytherin. It's not _my _fault I'm better at potions than their whole house combined," she smirked.

"I'm sure that _somewhere_, there's a Slytherin who could beat you," Molly said severely. The fact that Lily could beat her in the subject without even studying was a sore spot with her.

"Doubt it," Lily said confidently, grinning at Hugo as they climbed through the portrait hole. Becker stumbled, and Lily caught him.

"T-thanks, Lily," he stammered. Becker had liked Lily for a year now, but couldn't bring himself to tell her. She tossed her coppery hair over her shoulder and the foursome continued down the hall.

"FIRE!" someone yelled suddenly, and a jet of water squirted from someone's wand and hit Molly in the face. Lily yanked out her wand, whirling to face the blonde boy with the pale, pointed face.

"Sorry," he snickered, "thought your head was on fire. Maybe you should comb your hair, Weasley."

"Scorpius Malfoy, how dare you!" Lily cried, "_Scourgify!_"

Scorpius spluttered and gagged as his mouth filled with bubbles, glaring at Lily. She put her nose in the air and her arm around Molly, and the four went on their way.

"You okay, Moll?" Becker asked anxiously. He had inherited his mother's nervous nature. Molly nodded.

"Don't worry, Moll, Lil and I will get him back for you," Hugo said as they reached the dungeon.

"We sure will," Lily said, making hot air come from the tip of her wand to dry Molly's hair and producing a brush from her bag to keep the curls in some semblance of order. Molly was cleaning her glasses on her robe, muttering about how there were water spots on her prefect badge.

Professor Slughorn came in, followed by Scorpius. Lily made a loud gagging noise and mimed throwing up to Hugo and Becker, who snickered. Professor Slughorn clapped his hands.

"All right class," he boomed, "First of all, I'd like to introduce you to my teaching assistant, Scorpius Malfoy. Double potions has gotten too big for me to teach by myself, and Scorpius has volunteered to assist me. He will also be tutoring those who need Remedial Potions before their O.W.L. All right, let's begin." He waved his wand, and instructions appeared on the board for an antidote for Doxy venom.

Scorpius walked around the classroom, giving the Slytherins glowing compliments and the Gryffindors sneering criticisms. Lily mixed hers carefully, and it was the perfect shade of puce when he walked by her table. He stayed there for a long time, and took his rage out on Becker instead.

Lily rolled her eyes and went to the cupboard. She had forgotten powdered Doxy wings. Scorpius was gone, and Becker was fussing with his potion.

"Lily, help me!" he said, frustrated, "I can't get it right!"

"Let me put this in really quick," Lily said. She carefully measured the powdered Doxy wing, and tipped it into her cauldron. The potion hissed and turned black instead of the turquoise it was supposed to be.

"What the hell?" Lily muttered, squinting at the instructions. Professor Slughorn had made his way over, and was looking down at her potion.

"Lily, have you made a mistake?" he asked, astonished. She was normally his best student, taking pride in the fact that she was as talented as her grandmother.

"I…I must have," she said, frowning, "but I'm not sure what step I messed up on."

"Lily, if you can't even make this basic Doxy venom antidote, you're going to need a tutor before your O.W.L.," Professor Slughorn said.

"No! I promise, sir, I'm just rusty from not doing anything all summer! I'll do better next class, I promise!" Lily replied, horrified.

"All right, but if you mix up your potion again, you're going to have to get a tutor." He waddled away, leaving Lily bright red. The Slytherins snickered, and she shot dirty looks at their side of the dungeon.

"Don't worry, Lil," Hugo said, patting his cousin on the back as they left the dungeon, "I'm sure you'll be fine next class. You're too smart for remedial potions."

"I hope so," Lily said fervently, "if I have to take remedial potions with Scorpius, I'm going to die!"

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	2. Chapter 2

But Lily's potions didn't get better, and after the third lesson when her potion-gone-wrong caused her cauldron to shatter, Professor Slughorn had kept her after class. Scorpius sneered at her.

"What are _you_ doing here, Potter?"

"I've got to speak to Professor Slughorn," Lily replied stiffly.

"Ah, Lily," Professor Slughorn said, peering at her. She resisted the urge to glare back.

"What's happened to you? You were always so good in Potions. Had your grandmother's talent. But now you seem to be…recessing."

"I don't know, Professor," Lily said honestly, "I've been taking extra care to do everything exactly right, but they still turn out horribly!"

"Well, maybe some Remedial Potions with Scorpius will help."

Scorpius looked as if someone had thrown a wad of dung into his face, and Lily snapped the quill she had been holding in half. Professor Slughorn looked surprised.

"Is there a problem? Not the old Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry I hope?"

"No, Professor, not at all," Lily managed through gritted teeth. Scorpius managed to shake his head and force a smile.

"Good then! You'll meet, say…three times a week? Monday, Wednesday, Friday nights at six thirty?"

Lily turned her gag into a cough and nodded, snapping the quill in her hand into thirds. Scorpius managed one tight nod, and Professor Slughorn dismissed them. Lily practically ran to catch Molly, Hugo, and Becker.

"What happened?" Hugo asked eagerly, seeing the look on Lily's face.

"I have to take…Remedial Potions!" Lily spat, "With _Scorpius_."

"Oh, Lily!" Becker gasped, patting shoulder awkwardly. She resisted slapping his hand away as they climbed through the portrait hole, and flopped down in an armchair, staring gloomily into the fire. Hugo hip-checked Becker out of the way and sat next to his cousin, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"C'mon, Lil, it'll be okay," he soothed.

"I hate Scorpius, Hugo! He's just going to use this as an excuse to torture me!"

"So torture him back," Hugo said with a grin, "I'll be right back."

He ran upstairs to the boys' dormitories, and Becker took his spot, resuming his awkward patting of Lily's shoulder. Molly peered over the top of the book she had been reading since they'd reached the Common Room.

"You know, Lily, maybe this is a good thing," she said, a bit pompously, "Maybe now you'll reconsider your hatred of Slyth-"

"Shut up, Molly," Lily said severely. Molly looked affronted and put her nose back in her book. Hugo came dashing down the stairs, a plain cardboard box in his hand.

"What's that, Hugo?" Lily asked. He grinned.

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

"Hugo! How'd you sneak those into the school?"

"Uncle George sent them to me by owl. They don't check our packages," Hugo said mischievously, "C'mon, let's find a place where you can pick and choose your weapons."

They hurried down the hall, into an empty classroom, and locked the door. Hugo opened the box and Lily began digging through it, selecting puking pastilles, a fake wand, and a trick quill that shot foul-smelling liquid when triggered.

"Use them wisely," Hugo advised as Lily tucked her weapons of choice into her pocket and they went to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Oh, I will," Lily said, with an evil grin. They found Molly, who was still offended, and Becker, who was eagerly asking Lily if she was all right.

"I'm fine, Becker," she said, waving him off and pulling a steak and kidney pie toward her and taking a piece.

"D'you want me to go to Remedial Potions with you tonight?" he asked.

"No," Lily said, taking a bite of her pie, "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Becker, she's gonna be fine!" Hugo said, punching his friend in the shoulder.

"OW!" Becker rubbed his shoulder and grumbled, and Hugo grinned at Lily. Lily's older brother Albus came to sit by them.

"Al, I have to take _Remedial Potions_," Lily groaned. Albus raised an eyebrow at her.

"You're the best in the family in Potions," he said, digging into his pie.

"I know! The worst part is, it's with Scorpius Malfoy!"

"Oh that twit. And now he's going to give you hell because James and I gave him hell," Albus said with a groan, "I'm sorry, Lil. I've got some Weasley's Wizard –"

"Please, Al," Hugo piped up, grinning, "I've already supplied her with everything she needs."

"That's good of you, Hugo," Albus replied, ruffling his sister's hair, "it's a good thing you've got us to take care of you, kid."

"Gah!" Lily smoothed her hair and stood up, "I've got to go. I'll let you know how it goes."

She hurried down to the dungeon. Scorpius was waiting for her there, his lip curled in his usual sneer.

"You're two minutes late, Lily. I won't tolerate lateness."

"Oh, I'm ever so sorry, Scorpius!" Lily said in a mockingly sweet voice, "I shan't ever do it again!"

"Sit," he said shortly. She dropped into a chair, setting her cauldron up on the desk and lighting a fire underneath it.

"You can put that away," Scorpius said evilly, smirking. Lily looked at him,

"Why?"

"Because you won't be making any potion. You'll be doing lines, Miss Potter."

"_What?_" she burst out angrily.

"Lines," he repeated, tossing a stack of dusty folders onto the desk, along with a stack of parchment.

"All of these," he pointed to the folders, "need to be copied to these," he pointed to the parchment.

"No," she said stubbornly, "I'm here for Remedial _Potions_. Not to copy dusty old folders full of God knows what."

"Oh, you'll do it," he said carelessly, sitting at Professor Slughorn's desk and putting his feet on it.

"No, I won't! I'll go straight to Professor Slughorn and –"

"If you do that, then I'm afraid I'll have to keep sabotaging your potions," Scorpius said, stretching. Lily sprang from her chair, wand in her hand. It was emitting green sparks.

"How dare you!" she hissed. Scorpius was chuckling,

"Oh, this will teach Albus and James to mock me! Your brothers have been the bane of my existence since I arrived at this school. I never could get them back, because there were two of them. But now I've got their sister just where I want her!"

"_Confrigo!"_ Lily cried. The desk under Scorpius' feet exploded with a bang, and he was tossed backwards. He leapt to his feet and pointed his wand at her.

"_Petrificus Totalus!"_

Lily tried to dodge, but the curse caught her and she hit the floor painfully, landing on her stomach. Scorpius laughed and rolled her over,

"Now that you've got time to listen," he said sleekly, kneeling over her, "here's what's going to happen. You will copy the folders, and I'll stop sabotaging your potions. I'll also thank you to not tell your brother what is going on down here."

With a flick of his wand, he freed her, and pointed to the desk.

"Miss Potter, if you please?"

Lily glared at him as she picked up her quill and began to copy.

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